


Long nights

by IaMcHrIsSi



Series: Batfam Week 2018 [7]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, He needs to sleep, Tim works too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 22:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15567474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IaMcHrIsSi/pseuds/IaMcHrIsSi
Summary: After a long day, Tim just wants to go on patrol. His siblings have other plans.





	Long nights

**Author's Note:**

> For the Batfam Week 2018, prompt; Family Night
> 
> Wow, I actually made it! I wasn't sure I would. A fic for every prompt. I'm kind of proud of myself.

It's late evening when Tim finally gets out of the office. A planned cooperation with Queen Consolidated might make a lot of sense when discussed in terms of the Justice League, but selling the whole thing to the highly intelligent Wayne Industries analysts had been a completely different thing.

He has to shake himself awake a few times on the ride to his apartment. Thank god Bruce gave him the self driving car a few months back. Better to allow himself a bit of tiredness now, and then later be awake for patrol than the other way around.

He can get coffee at home.

Finally, he arrives at the apartment. He feels slightly more awake than he was in the car, which is good. Looking on his watch, he has at least half an hour to write some of the reports for tomorrow before he has to show up for patrol.

Caught up in thoughts about the business cooperation with Queen Consolidated, he opens his door and nods at Jason and Damian on his couch while walking towards his kitchen.

Then he stops. Blinks. Turns back. Jason and Damian are sitting on his couch. What are Jason and Damian doing in his apartment, sitting on his couch?

“You know, we had this whole thing planned with singing and candles and everything, but you are like, way too late.” Jason says, sounding kind of annoyed. Which... what is going on? What would anyone be singing for, and since when do they do candles? They only do candles for Christmas or birthdays? Did he miss someone's birthday?

“Happy Birthday, Tim!” Suddenly, Dick is hugging him. Tim blinks, tries to remember the date. Right. It's his birthday. How in the world did he manage to forget about that?

“Did you seriously forget your own birthday?” Jason asks, sounding both fondly amused and completely unbelieving. Which Tim thinks is unfair. At least he actually has a day job.

“You are like, way to stressed.” Steph says from his right, and then she makes grabby motions with her hand until Dick lets Tim go. Then she goes and hugs him herself. “Happy Birthday.” She says.

Then he's handed over to Jason, who hugs surprisingly nice. Then it's Cass, who smiles softly. Then Damian's standing in front of him, shoving his hand forward. For a moment, Tim has no idea what that's supposed to be about, then he gets it and shakes the hand.

Then he's herded to the couch. There's a cake there, a nice one, and lots of finger food. Tim doesn't actually know when he last ate. This morning? He knows he was too busy to go for lunch, but he's sure he had at least a protein bar for breakfast. Or was that yesterday?

“Not that I don't appreciate this, but... we have to go on patrol in like, half an hour, right?” Tim says, and is greeted with various annoyed and horrified looks.

“It's your birthday, Tim! We're not going on patrol. We'll stay right here and celebrate!” Dick says, slinging his arm over Tim's shoulder. Tim should move away, he thinks, if he wants to have any chance at winning this argument, but... he's not sure if he wants to win, really. And Dick is comfortable, and safe, so...

“But the city, who will protect it?” Tim asks, because while a night with his siblings sounds kind of amazing, he's also very aware that as the vigilantes of Gotham they have certain duties. He doesn't think he could live with himself if someone got hurt just because he decided to celebrate with his siblings instead of being out there helping people.

“Kate is back in town, and she brought Dinah and Helena. Selina's helping them. Anyone who tries anything while they're on the streets is going to regret it.” Jason says, and... okay, that's good planning. Between Batwoman, Black Canary, Huntress and Catwoman, the city should indeed be safe.

“Now, what do you think of a movie?” Steph asks, holding three DVD's in his face. Mulan, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone, and the Incredibles. Children's movies, but good children's movies. Really good ones.

“What do you guys want to watch?” He asks, and is answered with shaking heads.

“It is your birthday, Drake. It only makes sense for you to choose the movie.” Damian says, in a tone that might actually be interpreted as friendly. Which means that Dick took him aside to make him play nice for tonight. Which... is really nice of Dick.

Steph is still holding the dvd's in Tim's face, so he jut points at one without looking. They're all good choices anyway, and he won't have too think too much.

“The Incredibles. Nice!” Dick says, sounding excited. Tim knows for a fact that Dick has seen the movie at least ten times already, but it is a good movie. And knowing Dick, he might just be excited that they're all in one room, agreeing to watch a movie together.

“There'll be presents tomorrow, when Kate and Selina can be there too.” Jason tells him, and Tim wonders what more his siblings have planned. Then he thinks over Jason's statement again.

“I have meetings tomorrow. Like, a lot of meetings.” He says, slightly regretfully. Work is important, and he likes his work, but if his siblings already put this much effort in organizing a nice birthday for him, he thinks he should appreciate that.

“No you don't.” Steph snorts. “We called your office, and your nice secretary cancelled all your appointments. She absolutely agreed with us when we said that you need a a day off. In fact, she made us promise to make you sleep for at least six hours.”

That... does sound like something Janice would say. Tim's secretary is a very nice woman, a single mother of two, and she's always worried about Tim. It's nice, but also sometimes kind of unhelpful, because he can't exactly tell her that he's too busy with top secret vigilante activities instead of sleeping.

“Are we going to start the movie or what?” Jason asks, sitting down on the couch next to Tim and reaching for the chocolate. Cass sits down in the limited space right between them, putting her head on Tim's shoulder and her feet in Jason's lap. Neither of them complains.

Damian and Steph fight over a spot for a moment, before Dick rolls his eyes and sits down on the contested spot. Steph finds herself at Tim's side, and Damian sits down on the floor in front of Dick.

Tim looks at them all, sitting together, peacefully spending time together, not going on patrol just because it's his birthday and they want to do something nice for him. It feels... wonderful, in ways he can't even properly put in words. It feels safe, too. He dozes of before Mr. Incredible's first mission.

Some time later, he wakes up. At first, he's not sure what woke him, He did not have a nightmare or anything like that, probably because his siblings are still there, sleeping on their places on the couch. At some point, Damian has moved from the floor onto Dick's lap, but everyone else is exactly where they were before Tim fell asleep.

The movie is over, too, and some of the finger food has been eaten, but nobody touched the cake. It takes Tim a moment to realize that they're waiting for him to start eating it. That's... kind of really nice of them. He smiles.

Then he hears someone entering the room. He wants to jump up, but a warm, firm hand on his shoulder stops him.

“It's just me.” Bruce whispers, running his hand through Tim's hair. “Happy Birthday.”

For a moment, Tim can't breathe, because having his siblings organize a little something for his birthday is awesome enough, but Bruce actually showing up... that's... his parents never showed up for his birthday. They never acknowledged it, not really. But now he has siblings who plan for his birthday, and Bruce who must have cut patrol short to come.

Which is all kinds of amazing, and Tim feels like he should acknowledge that more than he does, but his eyes are falling shut again.. Apparently he is really that tired.

“Sleep, Tim.” Bruce whisper, kissing him on the forehead. “I'll still be there in the morning. We'll have the entire day, just the family.”

Tim believes him. He falls asleep with a smile on his lips.

 


End file.
